In 2012 TJC recorded 901 sentinel events. The number of sentinel events was down only slightly in 2013, at 887 events, with a similar frequency and distribution to the previous year of events across all categories.
Sign up for our FREE E-Weekly for more coverage like this sent to your inbox!
Between 2004 and 2013, 66 percent of all sentinel events occurred in a hospital setting, while ambulatory care settings contributed 4 percent of sentinel events, and emergency departments contributed nearly 6 percent of events. Approximately 60 percent of the total events reported resulted in patient death, while 9.5 percent resulted in a loss of patient function.
Delay in treatment (12.7 percent) continued to be the most common sentinel event reported, followed closely by wrong-patient, wrong-site wrong-procedure errors (12.3 percent) and unintended retention of a foreign body (11.5 percent), similar to 2012.
More Articles on Infection Control & Clinical Quality:
Joint Commission Launches Hand Hygiene Tool
5 Hospitals, The Joint Commission, CDC Team Up to Reduce C. diff
